Mexico City Marks Day of Victims of Forced Disappearances

Demonstrators and relatives of missing people took to the streets of Mexico City to mark the International Day of the Victims of Forced Disappearances and pressure authorities to do more to find their loved ones and friends.

The day was observed with various activities such as a march, the decoration of the area near the Angel de la Independencia monument with hearts, and activities such as embroidery, while some removed the posters of the missing persons that were already worn out and replaced them with new ones.

Footage shot near the iconic Angel of Independence monument showed giant words forming a sign reading "Over 116 thousand people missing."

They have celebrated Mass in the middle of busy streets and next to canal drainages. They have joined them in visiting prisons and morgues, comforting them no matter what sorrow may come.

Amnesty International estimates that more than 114,000 people have disappeared or gone missing in Mexico between 1962 and 2023.

According to official figures, at least 115,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since 1952, though the real number is believed to be higher.

During the country’s “dirty war,” a conflict that lasted throughout the 1970s, disappearances were attributed to government repression.

In the past two decades, as officials have fought drug cartels and organized crime has tightened its grip in several states, it’s been more difficult to trace the perpetrators and causes of disappearances.

Human trafficking, kidnapping, acts of retaliation and forced recruitment by cartel members are among the reasons listed by human rights organizations. Disappearances impact local communities as well as migrants who travel through Mexico hoping to reach the U.S.

Among the thousands of relatives affected are mothers whose children have vanished.